Kiwi Country

We are nearing the end of our month in NZ but still discovering new and exciting places. Huka Falls at Taupo thunders through a narrow chasm and drops only 35 feet, but it supplies 50% of the North Island’s required power. 

At New Plymouth we hiked to the Te Rewa Rewa bridge, constructed to frame the Taranaki volcano. 

Also in New Plymouth is the Govett Brewster Art Gallery and Len Lye Center. The building is a stunning architectural drama of glass and steel twisted towers. Reflected here is a huge clock tower across the street. 

Len Lye is a New Zealand artist acclaimed for his Modernism and kinetic art works. He created the Wind Wand along the coastal walkway. It sways with the wind. 

We are currently on the north end of the North Island at the Coromandel Peninsula where we hiked to Cathedral Cove, a beautiful beach with a huge stone arch. 

Tomorrow we head toward Auckland where we will depart on December 1st.  But not before a couple more rounds of golf. We are not looking forward to cold Wisconsin weather. Dare I say that it has almost been too warm for us here. 

Moving Northward

We finished off New Zealand’s South Island in Blenheim, wine country, Had a wonderful day of tastings at six different wineries, plus a stop at a chocolatier to finish it off deliciously. In this part of the country, vineyards now out number sheep ranches. 

And just to remind you what spring looks like......,..

Luckily we had a smooth crossing from Picton to Wellington on the North Island. The boat is a car ferry, but you can’t take a rental car from one island to the other. So you drop off the car on one side and pick up a different one on the other side. Both of our cars have been Holdens—Australian made. 

We drove to the Kapiti Coast north of Wellington and stayed in Paraparaumu where we golfed and visited Kapiti Island which is a nature reserve. Saw and heard many birds while climbing 1700 feet to the island summit. Here’s  friendly Weka just waiting to steal your lunch. 

Then on to Napier which is known for its Art Deco architecture. After a big earthquake and fire in 1931, the entire city was rebuilt in the favored style of the 1930’s. They hold a huge Art Deco weekend every February and everyone dresses in period pieces and there are Gatsby parties. We took a tour in a vintage auto to see the buildings. 

We also golfed at Cape Kidnappers, one of the premier courses in the world. And it really was spectacular. 

We are now in “Gizzy”—Gisborne where we rode on the only Railbike operation in the world. Rode about 8 miles on the actual train tracks. 

A few more stops before we get to Auckland and head home. The Kiwis have been so welcoming and fun. 

New Zealand Adventure

We’ve been in New Zealand just a week, but we’ve already seen much of the South Island. We started outside Christchurch at Windwhistle where the wind was really whistling as we golfed along the Rakaia Gorge. 

Next south to Dunedin where we visited the lovely old railway station. Lime electric scooters are pervasive in NZ as well, here in front of First Church. 

Its spring here and the flowers are lovely, especially the rhododendrons. 

Then even further south to Invercargill, the most southern city, home of Burt Munro, famous for setting many motorcycle land speed records. The movie The World’s Fastest Indian is about him—it’s a great film. 

Our weather has not been as nice as we expected, but we’ve golfed 3 times and has two good hikes. Unfortunately, our Siberia Experience was cancelled because of weather. The cloud cover was too low to fly us in to the drop off point for the hike. But we have no real complaints after reading about the Milwaukee weather!!